Page 51 of Gods and Graves

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

THEA

I ’m…back.

In my bedroom.

My prison.

My personal hell.

However you want to look at it.

I’m back, and the voices are screaming at me, and the walls are oozing tar, and shadowy monsters are crawling towards me, and a frog is hopping on my easel. At least I’m dressed, though I have no idea how that happened. Better than being butt-ass naked, though.

And there, directly in front of me, is the pedestal that will end this all. The madness. The hallucinations. The incessant voices. The pain.

How is this even possible?

I haven’t reaped a soul that I know of. Or maybe I did and haven’t even realized it. Maybe souls were attracted to the tattoo on my hip wherever I went and only Athena’s spell blocked the effects.

Tears prick my eyes.

I want this to stop, but doing so will be giving the bastard exactly what he or she wants—more power.

“No!” I scream, knowing no one will hear me. “No more!”

I refuse to be an unwitting pawn in this scheme a second longer.

Is it Ares, attempting to use this power to free himself from the Underworld?

“You’re not getting any more power,” I growl at no one in particular.

And so, for the first time in my life, I don’t drop the dagger onto the pedestal. I keep it held firmly in my hand, ignoring the burning, prickling sensation spreading up my arm. God, it feels like it’s on fire. Like I’m on fire.

“Stupid bitch!”

“Die!”

“Did you really think you could escape us?”

“You’re meant to be alone.”

“SHUT UP!” I scream, placing my hands over my ears.

They’re wrong. I’m not meant to be alone. I have the guys, and I know that they’re searching for me right now. They won’t rest until they find me. I just have to be patient. I just have to?—

No. Fuck that. I’m not some pretty princess who needs to be saved. I’ll find my own way out of here, regardless of the consequences.

“There’s no escape.”

“You’re trapped here forever.”

“Forever.”

“Forever.”

“Forever.”

“Shut the fuck up!” I bellow, slamming my dagger in the general direction of one of the voices.

But of course, it goes through nothing but air…before slamming into the wall.

And cutting through it.

For a moment, shock holds me immobile, rooting my feet to the ground. Then I’m moving, grabbing my fallen dagger and slicing at the stone in front of me.

“What the fuck?” I whisper.

It cuts through the wall like butter.

“No fucking way,” I breathe, tears pricking my eyes, though I’m not sure if they’re from horror or relief.

Never in my life have I used the dagger outside of work.

When I wasn’t reaping souls, the dagger sat on the pedestal.

A part of me always associated it with madness and pain.

I didn’t want to put myself through that any longer than necessary, so as soon as I released the dagger, I promptly ignored it until my next call.

So, to discover that I could have escaped hundreds of years ago? It’s a slap to the face.

The dagger is power. Raw, unfettered power.

And right now, it may just be the thing that will set me free.

I ignore the voices, the pain, the monsters that slash and claw at me, the screaming in my head. Gritting my teeth together, I cut at the wall, creating a rectangular shape large enough for me to squeeze through. When my creation is completed, I shove at it, pushing it back.

“Fuck,” I whisper, whirling around.

I’m not leaving this room without Potty the Cactus. Fuck that.

I grab the cactus and hug her against my chest, but of course the prickly bitch doesn’t even thank me for freeing her.

With my heart hammering in my chest, I race through the hole.

And enter a very, very familiar apartment.

“No fucking way,” I breathe.

From the bed, Aphrodite turns to stare at me, the slightest widening of her eyes the only sign of her surprise at my appearance. But then a cold, malevolent grin unfurls on her perfect lips as she stands gracefully, dressed from head to toe in black fighting leathers.

“To be completely honest, I didn’t expect you to find your way out,” she says casually, brushing her manicured hand over the mantel of her fireplace. “You didn’t in over four centuries, yet you managed to escape in less than ten minutes now.”

“I didn’t have motivation before,” I hiss, trying to ignore the cockroach crawling out of the goddess’s ear.

If she isn’t reacting to it, then that means it probably isn’t real. Or she just has a really strange fetish.

“You mean those…teammates of yours?” Her lips quirk up.

“I was actually just about to go see them. Offer my help in tracking you down. Of course I would offer them a shoulder to cry on when they need it.” Her smile grows, turning malicious and wicked.

“And a tight pussy when they decide they’re done waiting for you. ”

I slowly lower Potty to the ground, never taking my eyes off the Goddess of Bitchy. “You bitch.”

Aphrodite throws her head back in lilting laughter, the sound as beautiful as it is dangerous. “ I’m the bitch. Me?” She sneers, her perfect face distorting into something I would almost describe as grotesque. “You’re the one who stole Ares from me.”

Her accusation actually takes me by surprise.

I gawk at her. “What?!”

“He became obsessed with you,” she says, her lips curling in a sneer.

“He was devastated when he hurt you.” She tsks her tongue disapprovingly.

“Did you know that I was the one who stumbled upon your broken, naked body?” A mirthless chuckle escapes her.

“You begged me to help you, to save you, but all I could see was the piece of trash my lover fucked. I wanted to leave you to die, but then I came up with another solution for you.”

“You… You trapped me. Used me to collect the power from souls.” Horror fills me as I finally see Aphrodite as she truly is.

Her beautiful face belies something much more hideous.

She’s a monster. No amount of makeup can hide the vile woman underneath it.

“It was Athena’s idea, actually, though I’m sure she didn’t intend for me to do what I did.

” She wets her lips, a devious smirk on her face.

“You see, people always forget that I’m more than just the Goddess of Beauty.

I’m also the Goddess of Love. When Athena lost her lovers, she came to me for advice.

I hinted that there could be a way for her to tie their souls to hers so she could be with them always.

Athena, of course, ran with the idea and created the first rune—the one designed to hold souls.

“She decided not to use it, but me? Well, I’ve always been an opportunist.” She absently glances at her manicured fingernails, buffing them on the edge of her shirt like a walking, talking mean-girl cliché. “It’s about time a woman runs this male-dominated world, wouldn’t you say?”

“If that woman is anyone but you, then yes,” I deadpan, taking great satisfaction in the way her eyes flare with anger.

Good. I want her to be angry. She seems to be more willing to tell me her nefarious schemes that way.

“I found the second rune in an ancient tome,” Aphrodite continues.

“This was designed to transfer power from one being to another. I wanted to see if it would work with souls, and it did.” A giddy, euphoric giggle escapes her, making me cringe.

“It was quite simple to wipe your memories. After that, it was easy—almost too easy, if you ask me. Whenever you reaped a soul, you did it for me, not Hades.”

Something bitter crosses her face then. “Every god and goddess always underestimated me. They thought I was a vapid, shallow bitch just because I specialized in love and beauty. But there’s more to me than meets the eyes.”

I mean, I can understand her being pissed that she’s looked down upon by the other gods. But does that really justify all of the evil acts she committed to gain more power? Yeah…no. I’m all for girl power, but this bitch is simply delusional.

“I thank you for helping me realize my full potential,” Aphrodite says, smiling. But then her lips curl downwards and her eyes narrow. “But I have no more use for a self-aware, repulsive brat.”

The air shivers around me, electric and thick with tension.

I tighten my fingers around the hilt of the dagger, even as another wave of agony ripples through me.

“You’re out of your depth, reaper,” Aphrodite says in a singsong voice.

I meet her gaze, unflinching. “You’ve taken what doesn’t belong to you. All of those souls you destroyed? All of that power you took? Yeah…I’m going to need that back.”

I lower myself into a defensible stance—the way I remember doing in my past training.

A flicker of amusement crosses her face at my defiance before her lips curl. “Magic flows through all things, Thea. It’s my right—just as love is. I simply…take what’s mine.”

She raises her hand, a deceptively casual gesture, and the world around us warps. The air hums and crackles, and my breath hitches in my chest as a pulse of pure energy rips through me—too much, too fast. My heart skips then hammers in my chest, but I hold my ground.

I’ve dealt with pain all my life. This is nothing.

I can feel it now—the way her power infiltrates my mind, wrapping around every thought, every instinct. It’s not just the magic. It’s her . The essence of love, the tenderness, the hunger, the need to drop my weapon and give in to her.

I grit my teeth, trying to shove it aside.

Aphrodite tilts her head, watching me struggle. Her eyes glow with wicked delight. “Do you feel it, my dear? The rush of creation, of devotion, of obsession? It courses through your veins now. This is what it is to hold true power. You’re mine to do with as I wish.”